STANWOOD — The fields of Stanwood are alive with gunshots and squawking geese.
For the first time ever, state-organized snow geese hunts are happening in Stanwood. The goal is to help farmers, who lose their crops to the voracious flocks.
To help keep the geese in check, three farmers have agreed to plant crops for the geese to eat, then turn their fields over to the state Department of Fish &Wildlife for hunts. Three farmers on Fir Island in Skagit County are also participating.
The state compensates the growers for planting crops for the birds to eat.
The program, which began in 2007 on Fir Island in Skagit County, is intended to give hunters an opportunity for publicly regulated hunting on private land and to help farmers deal with snow geese.
Thousands of the geese migrate from Russia each fall and spend months in Stanwood fields, eating crops and attracting bird-watchers.
The state has given 422 hunters permission to participate in the hunt. In 2007, 336 participated, according to Doug Huddle, the snow goose quality hunt coordinator for the Department of Fish &Wildlife.
“I think we’ve influenced the birds’ behavior, especially in the Stanwood area,” he said. “They are not as heavily focused on the area south of Stanwood and west of Marine Drive as they have been in previous years.”
For the first time ever, snow geese are frequenting the Island Crossing and Silvana areas, Huddle said.
When snow geese settle in fields, they usually cost farmers money by eating their grass and winter wheat, said Dave Pehling, of the Washington State University Extension in Everett.
“The big concern is they’re largely herbivores and they’re feeding on grass farmers need to raise their stock,” he said. “If they have any winter crops in, they go the same way as grass does.”
Snow goose hunting season began on Nov. 3, 2007, and ends on Jan. 27.
People who would like to participate but didn’t get a spot in the state-sanctioned hunt can enter raffles each Saturday for the chance to hunt. The raffles are scheduled to take place an hour before hunting starts at Skagit Barn, 18729 Fir Island Road in Conway.
Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
